Chaddesley Corbett, Belbroughton Pigots Directory 1842

Chaddesley-Corbett is a parish and village, in the hundred of Halfshire; the village, which is small and pleasant, is 13 miles N. by E. from Worcester, and 5 from Kidderminster, Stourport and Bromsgrove (near the last named town is a station on the Birmingham and Gloucester railway) pleasantly situated on the road leading to Bromsgrove; it is a place, however, of very limited trade, and manufactures there are none. The church, dedicated to St. Cassyon, is a neat structure of red free stone, combining different styles of English architecture, with some Norman portions, of which the latter, the font is considered a fine specimen; and the spire, which surmounts the edifice, is lofty and well-proportioned: the living is a vicarage, in the gift of the crown, and incumbency of the Rev. George Henry Piercy. There is a chapel for Roman Catholics, at Harrington, a hamlet in this parish; and there are two endowed free schools, one of which is conducted on the Lancasterian plan. Population about 1,500.

Belbroughton, in the same hundred as Chaddesley-Corbett, is a parish, divided into four Yields, namely, Belbroughton, Brian’s Bell with Moor-Hall Bell, Forfield, and Broomhill: the village of Belbroughton is situated 3 miles N.E. from Chaddesley-Corbett, 5 S. from Stourbridge, and 6 N.W. from Bromsgrove. There is a considerable manufactory here for scythes, hay knives, &c. A sheriff’s court, for the recovery of small debts, is held on the third Wednesday in every month. The church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, has received an additional number of sittings, by means of a grant from the society for enlarging churches and chapels, and been otherwise improved; and it is now a spacious and handsome structure, with a lofty spire: the living is a rectory, in the patronage of the president and fellows of St. John’s College, Oxford: the Rev. H. A. Woodgate, M.A. is the present incumbent. An endowed charity school is in the village. The parish contained, in 1831, 1,489 inhabitants.